Molded article



June 6, 1933.

N. s. CLAY 1,912,931

MOLDED ARTICLE 1 Filed May 17, 1928 '4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR' 1ATTORNEY June 6,1933. v N 5 cu I V 1,912,931

MOLDED ART I CLE Fil ed May 17, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet, '2

INVENTOR 9 A'i'TORNEY June 6, 1933. I N. 5 CLAY 1,912,931

MOLDED ARTICLE File'dj"May '17, 1928 j%/%fi jz /4il /4 x W T .NVENTO BYa d; ,%44 I 5. ATTORNEY 1 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 June 6, 1933. N. sfcLAYMOLDED ARTICLE Filed May 17, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR A/ AfTORNEYPatented June 6, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT 'Q F E.

NOBLE s. CLAY, or wrnxmsnune,

rEnNsYLvmA, Assmnon wns'rmenousn a coaronarron, or rmmsnvmm.,-

L uommn ARTICLE Application filed Kay 17, 1928. serial a... 278,513.

My invention relates to. composite products and it has particularreference to trays.

of composite material that are particularly adapted to cafeteriaservice. the prior art have been made of certain metallic materials,such as aluminum andthe like. Trays made ofthis material have thedisadvantage that they arev noisy, oxidize readily and that Itis,therefore, an object of my invention to provide a tray in which theabovedisadvantages are entirely obviated.

Another object of my invention isto provide a tray which is pleasing tothe ermits of ornamentation. Still another object of my-mvention'is toprovide a tray which is'sturdy in construction and low in cost ofmanufacture. After considerable experimentation, I have succeeded inproducing a tray made of laminated material consolidated with aheat-hardened binder and find that the tray so produced has especiallydesirable characteristics. The invention may be better understood byreference to the accompanying drawings, m

which,

Figure 1 is a view, in perspective,of a finished tray madeaccording tomy method of manufacture,

ploded view of the sheets,

Fig. 2 is an ex of treated material as they are assembled preparatory tomolding according. to one of my methods of manufacture,

Fig.2 is a view,- partly in elevation and partly in'section, of the diesOfdl press, with the necessary material assembled. therein,

preparatory to the mold'ng of a tray, I

Fig. 4 is a view, partially inelevation and 1 partially in section, ofthe dies of a press and the tray during the process of molding,

Fig. 5 is aview, in section, of a part of the tray, showing the upturnedflange portion, and manufactured according to, one of my methods ofmanufacture, V

Fig. 6, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 show portions of the dies of a press, togetherwith the necessary material, for maklng trays according to a modifiedmethod of manufacture,

Fig. 9 is a view, partly in top elevation and partly 'in .section, takenalong the line Most trays of dirt clings to theirsurfaces.

eye and p the corners of the finished trav.

IX-IX of Fig. 10, and showing a tray made according to a modified methodof manufacture,

Fig. 10 is a view, a tray made according to a modified method ofmanufacture, Figs. 11 and; 12 are views, in elevation,illustrating'examples of methods of cutting the corners of the sheets inorder to avoid ex 7 cess material at the cornersof finished-trays,

and;

molding, in order to avoidexces's material .at

Referring more particularly Fig. 13 is a view, in perspective,showing a.method of forming the-sheets preparatory to I to 1 and in section, of aportion of 2, .I have found it desirable to make the tray 1 Iof aplurality of layers of suitable treated cloth and 'm I, shredded orchopped condition, may also'be.

fibrous material, subh as paper, the like. .Treated' Efibrous material,in a used. The preferred treating material or impregnating binder is aphenolic condensation product, although other being hardened under theaction of heat may be utilized.

Sheets of different lized, as,

for the bottom .cover, four body or filler sheets binders capable or vdimensions may be utifor instance, a prefe'rredstructure would embodyfour sheets 2 of treated paper i 3 of the same size as the bottom of thefinished tray, four body or filler sheets 4 of a size intermediate thatof. sheets 2 and sheets 3 and four full-size upper-cover sheets 5. Thecover sheets 2 and 5. are preferably treated with a higher content ofbinder than are the sheets in the interior of the tray. f t

If desired, inserts, such as terial 6, or pieces of wires orflth likemay be utilized to provide a thicker edge portion or lip for the-tray.These strips are arranged in the form of ho'I-a 10w rectangles, and bereinforcedby special reinforcing suchas the triangular corner pieces 7.Furthermore, various shaped pieces of material, such as triangularpieces, may be removed from the corners of certain of the sheets asshown in Fig. 11, or the corners may be slotted (Fig. 12) to providestrips of material, which strips of matreated or untreated rope,

the corners thereof may A sheets,

may be overlapped asshown in 13, to pertion 22, shown in Fig 35 mitbetter fitting of the sheets the mold and reduce the amountof materialat the corners of the finished tray.

If desired, small insignia sheets 8, (Figs. 1 and 2) on' which variousdesigns are printed, may be placed either just inside the bottom surfacelayers or under the top surface layers. As an alternative, full-sizesurface-sheets upon which the utilized. After the hardening "treatment,this insignia will be found to be plainly'visible through the superposedmaterial of the tray. In this manner, I may provide variously decoratedor colored cover sheets in order to give the tray a decorative appearance, such as that obtained .with highly' polished wood finishes andthe'like. The trays are molded, underheat and pressure, in the usualmanner and any excess material at the corners trimmed away.

The sheets are assembled in the order shown in Fig. 2 and stacked onthe-lower die 13 of the mold shown in Fig. 3, the sheets bendingdownwardat the center by reason of their own weight. Themold is closed, as inFig. 4, and heat and pressure applied, in the usual manner, to hardenthe binder and consolidate the laminations. The closing of the moldcauses the edges of'the various sheets to be crumpled together orconglomerated to fill the edge portions of the mold, thus providing thefolded, thickened or conglomerated edge por- 5. -A -modified method ofmanufacture is shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. In this process, the

sheets of treated material 11 are all of thesame size, the dimensionsbeing such that the sheets are slightly larger than the total. lowersurface area of the finished sixteen sheets are utilized but, of course,any

' other number of sheets may be employed, ac-

1 ledge; 18 of cording to the character of the material and the desiredthickness of the finished article. Special dies, such as the dies 12 and13 shown in Fig. 6, are. employed. The upper die 12 is rece'sed at itsouter rtion 14, so that a hollow rectangular mem r. 15 may be placed onthe lower die between the flanges 16 and 1']. The rectangular member 15is provided, at its upper inner edge, with a ledgelS large enough anddeep enough to receive the sheets of treated material, provided with aninnersurface portion 19 sfloping downwardly and inwardly thererom. V vIn making a tray according to the second method, the treated sheets areplaced on the the rectangular member 15 of the dies. The mold is thenclosed. This action pushes the sheets into the recess 20 of the lowermold, bending them upwardly at the edges (Fig. Since the-weight of thesheets causes them to bend downwardly at the middle, (Figs. 6 and 7) theslightly overinsignia is printed may be tray. Preferably,

-1nclusion is and'it'is further b I claim as my invention:

rial rests upon the bottom of the size sheets are entirely ing betweenthe dies. As the mold is closed, the convex portion 21 of the sheets isflattened out, and the excess sheet material forced into the side wallopening of the mold, where it is scraped down the wall 19 of therectangular member 15 and crumped and folded to pro- .vide the thickbeaded edge portion 22 of the tray.

The corner wall 0 enings (not shown) between the dies of the mold are ofgreater thickness so that the excess material at the corners of thesheets may be crumpled and folded, in the same manner as the bead, toprovide a thicker wall secti n 23 (Fig. 9) of folded or conglomeratedmaterial at the corners of the tray tobetter withstand shock, and inorder to permit the utilization of ordinary sheets without cutting outcertain as has been hitherto described.

pimrtions,

olding under heat and pressure is then carried on, in the usual manner,to complete the process. The corner made according to this process isshown in Figs. 9 and 10.

I have found, in manufacturing the trays, that great care must be usedin the treatment' of the sheet material and that, if.the treatingoperation and molding operation are not carefully practiced, blistersare likely to form after the molding operation. I have found that thisdifficulty may be obviated by close attention to the operation oftreating the sheet materia It has been found that blistering isordinarily caused by the volatile matter included in the binder andthat, if thesheets, prior to molding, are carefully dried at atemperature of from 90 to 120 for from 10 to 30 minutes, this diflicultyis obviated. The cover sheets, the binder content of which is relativelyhigh, must be closely watched, as regards the volatile matter inclusion..If the kept under 4%, blistering is not likely to occur.

. A tray made according to my method of manufacture will be found to beeasy to clean,

noiseless, pleasing to the eye and low in cost of manufacture.

Although I have described certain preferred processes and structures,ent that .further' modifications may be made y those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as definedin the appended claims.

1. The process of forming tra s -'which comprises placing fibrousmateriafi impregnated with a binder capable of beinghardened under theinfluence of heat and 1n the matrix ofa mold in such a manner containedin the openportion of a tray it is appar-' pressure,

that a major proportion of the fibrous matethe remainder extendsupwardly at an angle thereto, f'ormmg an edge portion havinga mold andsubstantially flat up er itaneously applying stantially perpendicular tothe plane of the surface, and simuleat and pressure subangular extendingmaterial and substantial-. ly vertical pressure to the material restingon the bottom of a he mold and to the edge of the, upwardly extendingedge portion, sufli-.

cient pressure being applied to forma composite article having upwardlyextending sidewalls and an outwardly extending peripheral flange.

. and contour sheets will be foldedupwardly at an angle 2. The processof forming trays which comprises assembling a plurality of lower surfacesheets, a plurality of top surface sheets and a plurality of fillersheets having a smaller area than the surface sheets, forcing theassembly into a mold of such a shape.

that the margin of the surface to the filler sheets and thenconsolidating the mass under t e influence of heat and pressure intoacomposite article.

;3. The process of forming comprises assembling a plurality of surfacesheets and a plurality of filler sheets having lessarea than thesurface-sheets, bending the margin of the surface sheets upwardly at anangle to the filler sheets and simultaneously exerting pressure on thefiller sheets and main portion of the surface sheets and upon theupwardly extending margin of the surface sheets to consolidate thematerial into a composite article. e

4. The process of forming molded articles which comprises assembling-aplurality of filler sheets upon one or more surface sheets,

folding the margin of the surface sheets upwardly at an angle to thefiller sheet and applying pressure against the assembled structure toconsolidate it into a compositearticle. v a

5. The process of forming trays which comprises placing a plurality offiller sheets upon surface sheets havinga greater surface 1 area thanthefiller sheets, foldin the margins of the surface sheets upward y toform a bottom, an angular disposed portion and a substantially fiatupper edge and then applyin suflicient ressure upon the various partsbinding agent and one or more inserts, folding the margin of thesurfacesheets at an angle to the filler sheets, and consolidatinginfluence of heat and pressure the assembled and formed sheets under thetrays which 7. The process of forming trays which comprises assembling aplurality of uppersurface sheets, a plurality of lower surface sheets,and interposing a pluralit of filler sheets having less area than thesur ace sheets between the lower and upper surface sheets, all of saidsheets being impregnated with a binder capable of being hardened underheat and pressure, folding the margin of the sur- I face sheetsupwardly, thereby forming angularly disposed walls and a substantiallyflat edge, and then simultaneously applying heat and sufficient pressureto the bottom, the angularly disposed walls and the upper. edge to forcethe material at the edge outwardly to form a peripheral flange and toconsolidate the material into a composite article. I

8. The process of forming trays which comprises impregnatinga pluralityof upper surface sheets and a plurality of lower surface sheets with a"comparatively large amount of a binding agent capable of being hardenedunder the influence of heat and pressure and a'plurality of fillersheets impregnated with a less quantity of the binding agent than thesurface sheets, bending the margins of the surface sheets at an angle tothe filler sheets and then applying pressure against the'bottom andangularlyextending side walls to form a rigid, composite article.

- 9. The process of forming trays whichcomprises impregnatingl aplurality of sheets of fibrous material wit a'binder capable of beinghardened under the influence of heat and pressure, rounding the edges ofthe sheets, cutting out notches, thereby forming strips at the corners,folding the marginof the sheets upward at an angle to the main bodyportion, thereby causing the strips to abut against each other,assembling a plurality of such sheets, and then simultaneously applyingpressure against the bottom portion and the angularly disposed margin toform a composite article;

10. The process of' forming trays which comprises impregnating aplurality of sheets of fibrous m'aterlal with a binder capable of beinghardened under the influence of heat and pressure, rounding the cornersof the sheets, cutting notches out of the corners to forms'tr'ips,assembling a plurality of such sheets and bending the margin upwardly,

thereby causing the strips to abut against each other and form asubstantially leveled e, and simultaneously applying heat and 'su cientpressure tothe main portion of the sheets, the angularly extendingportion and the edge portion to form a compositearticle having a bottom,upwardly inclined side walls and an outwardly projecting peripheralflange.

11. The process of forming trays which" I comprises impregnating aplurality of sheets of fibrous material with a binder capable of beinghardened under the influence of heat and pressure, rounding the cornerportions, cutting slits in the corners to form strips, bending themargin of the sheets at'an angl to the main body portion and overlappinthe strips formed at the corner, assembling a plurality of such sheetsand applying heat and pressure to the bottom and the angularly bentportion to form a composite articles 10 12. The process of formingtrays'which comprisesimpregnating a plurality of sheets of fibrousmaterial with a binder capable of being hardened under the influenceofheat and pressure, rounding the cornersof the sheets, cutting slotstherein to form a plurality of strips, assembling a plurality of suchsheets, bending the margin upwardly at an angle to the body andoverlapping the strips at the corners to form a substantially leveledge, then applying suflicient ressure to the bottom portion, theangularly d portion and the upper edge to force the material in the edgeoutwardly'and to form a composite article having a bottom, an angularlydisposed wall and an outwardly ex-' tending peripheral flange. r

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 14th dayof May, 1928.

so NOBLE s. CLAY.-

